Life in a day- my first movie recommendation

I don't watch that many movies. I should re-phrase that, I don't watch that many new movies. I don't even know when this movie came out, but I do know that it was very interesting.

It may not be of interest to everyone, but it quite appealed to me. I will warn you that it did feel a bit like an hour and a half long youtube movie, but somehow much more complete. It was more than just a random string of videos. There was definitely rhythm and a flow to it all. 

There is no way to get a full picture of what life is like around the world one day out of history, but that is what this film strives for and it is done well. There are a few disturbing moments, I turned my head a few times. But nothing worth throwing the film away for. 

I would say that if you are interested in getting out of your box of romantic comedies, actions, dramas or whatever other films that you like to watch, or if you are just interested in getting out of your world for a day to see what the rest of the world is like, this is the film to watch. 

It captures so much of the raw beauty, pain and akward-ness of this world, without much of the gore and overwhelming shock value of many other films. 

I just wanted to share this rare gem with you all. 

We watched it on youtube for free. There are actually films that are legal to watch on youtube for free. Check it out if you want to experience something different, but very real: Life in a Day

Be the change

When I was young I used to use a word that started with R. I did a lot of ignorant things, making fun of people with disabilities. I told myself that I was a R if I did something wrong. I told my friends that they were R if they were being stupid. 

I am so overwhelmingly ashamed of all those things. This word is SO ingrained in my mind that even though I am trying to take it out of my vocabulary, I STILL sometimes slip and use it. Even in front of the people that I know it hurts the most. 

But I am not writing this to make people feel sorry for me or my family. I know that they are strong and that they are amazing. I have so much respect and admiration for my brother and his wife and his girls. I know that they are fighters and they are gonna be alright even if the world continues to screw up.

But I want to advocate for them and for so many other beautiful people like my niece Gabriella. The world WILL continue to be messy and sinful, but that doesn’t mean that we need to sit back and accept it. NO.

I will not accept that word as part of my vocabulary anymore and I am asking you to do the same. Yesterday was National Spread the word to end the word day in the states. Since this issue is very dear to my heart I didn’t want to sit back and say nothing about it. Go to www.r-word.org to find out how you can become a part of the movement to take this word out of your vocabulary and to pave the way for our future generations. 

Things in the States are changing much quicker than things here are. Children like my beautiful niece are institutionalized here. Beautiful girls like this who have parents are put away, so that people don’t have to think about them or worry about offending them or even remember that there are people with disabilities in this world. They are locked away for people to forget about. 

The West has a lot of influence on places like this. Most of it being bad. But what I am hoping is that as our treatment of people with disabilities gets better, the way that people treat them HERE will too! 

Please join with me in this fight to change lives and to open people’s eyes to how much people with disabilities have to offer the world. They are not worthless, they are amazing and they can teach us so much if we only see them for WHO they are! 

an education

Thanks to all that responded to my last post. A lot of people asked to hear more about what I am learning and it just so happens that I will be writing specifically about that, with a little bit of every day life mixed in :)  

I really appreciated what my sister-in-law said, “I really think you should write what you want to write. It should be a reflection of you, whatever you are going through, feeling, enjoying.” 

It made me realize that as I looked back over my previous posts they were a reminder of the things that papa has been doing in and around me on my journey here. It is also a great way to process what is happening and how I am feeling while allowing me to share life with those of you who are so far away.

Right now I realize that papa is giving me some amazing gifts that I never expected. I am learning so many things that I never even imagined would be a part of my life. 

A couple things...

The first unbelievable thing that I am learning is the art of verbal translation. I would have never imagined just a year ago that I would be in this position. But right now there are not many native english speakers on our team who can translate from Russian to English in our team meetings, so I have started to do this. 

It is a disconcerting experience because when I hear Russian the first thing that comes to my mind is Russian. 

The first time I translated it was so difficult to get the english words out of my mouth. I knew this before, but at that point I truly understood that my brain switches to Russian when I hear and understand it. It is quite the stretch to get it to hear Russian words and then quickly translate into English what the person is saying and make it sound halfway decent because if you translate directly it will sound strange.

A few weeks ago I was translating for our feeding the homeless event. They were giving directions on how to divide the food and the word for divide in russian sounds like ‘delete,’ so I said “we are going to delete the food.’ It was funny, we all laughed, and I realized how sharp I must stay when I am translating, it’s definitely not second nature yet. Language is a crazy thing. 

The second thing that I am really excited to be learning is story writing. I took a couple screen writing classes in film school and I really enjoyed them, but aside from that I haven’t studied the art of story telling. 

One of the main things I am part of right now with our organization is the communications team. We have a newsletter that goes out quarterly and we would like to push that up to once a month eventually. In the newsletter we always share a story about people who have been blessed by goods given by our organization. 

The man who usually writes these stories is a really great writer, but he will be leaving in a few months and won’t be returning. Right now he is teaching me to develop into a better writer through writing stories and trying out different methods, writing from different view points etc. 

It may sound boring to some, but to me it is quite exciting and has really stirred up a passion inside of me for the lives that are being effected through what we do. 

I am so excited about what Papa has had me involved in lately. I am learning such a wide variety of skills here, managing a cafe, baking and developing recipes, writing, translating and so many more life skills.

I could write for days about what I am learning and I will continue to try to share more of it since that is what encourages me and apparently others as well :) 

Let's review

I just wanted to ask my readers, if you are actually out there, what kind of blog posts do you prefer?

If you could let me know which you like best by leaving a comment and numbering your favorites, it would help me out. I want to write, but of course I hope that there are some people out there reading it and if I know what people enjoy I can write more of that.

I guess we can review a bit to help you out...

Daily Life

"Work"

Stories

Food/Recipes

Inspiration - What I'm learning 

Culture 

Holidays

Stuff we do

Lots of people ask me what we do here, I try to explain, but in reality it's difficult to encompass everything that we do in a few words or even paragraphs at times. We are both involved in a very wide range of things at the English Centre where we work. One of the purposes of this blog is to help you to understand the wider range of things that we do. So here are some random things that both of us have been involved in the past month or so. 

Prepping for the Aids-Experience opening by making ribbons to remind the people who walk through the experience about what they learned and what they felt as they went through it.

(Aids-Experience is another simulation game where people walk through the story of someone who thinks that they might have contracted the aids virus. In the end they must wait for their results. It is another way to educate and build empathy) 

January 16th

Working towards 'warmifying and visifying' the cafe with these boards for the students. One is made for them to put up things that inspire them and the other is just for them to post pictures of them and their friends.  

January 17th

 Curtis ran a conversation club teaching the students how to use the boards and getting them to use the inspire board for the first time by making collages with things that inspire them. One of the students told me he made this for me because my cookies inspire him ;) 

January 18th

 Decorating for holidays in the cafe. 

January 23rd

Hearts everywhere. 

January 30th

 Adding a little warmth to the cafe with this bookshelf.

February 5th

 Curtis ran the 'basti life' experience game for the first time last week. This is a simulation game in which the students are put 'in the shoes' of a person who lives in the slums of India. They are taught about poverty and how complex it is. The goal of the game is to educate and to build empathy and to empower. Read more about it here: 'Basti Life Post'

February 7th

Had a lot of fun this friday learning about and celebrating the Chinese/Korean New Year in the Cafe for the first time ever!

February 8th